


After the Battles

by usopping



Category: One Piece
Genre: DO NOT TAG AS VINSMOKE SANJI IF YOU SHARE THIS, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-12
Updated: 2016-10-12
Packaged: 2018-08-22 02:25:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 915
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8269132
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/usopping/pseuds/usopping
Summary: The battles with Big Mom and Kaidou are over and the Straw Hats have reunited once more, but things don't go quite as Zoro had expected.





	

The victory-cum-reunion party had been raging for the entire afternoon and most of the night. The Straw Hat Pirates were together again … again. With everything that had been going on, Zoro hadn’t had time to think, but now, among the crew, he suddenly came to the realization that the time they’d spent apart since landing at Dressrosa had felt ages longer even than their two-year training period. As he watched Luffy and Usopp dance with seemingly endless energy despite their wounds, a pleasant wave of sleepiness washed over Zoro. His only small regret was not having been able to get the cook alone for even a moment yet. He, Luffy, and the others had burst in mid-battle, and by the time it was over and Zoro had been patched up, the cook had already made himself busy preparing the feast. Zoro had no idea what had happened with Big Mom, and a tiny bloom of doubt appeared in his mind. Maybe the cook was avoiding him. But why would he do that?

As Brook launched into an electric rendition of _Bink’s Sake_ , Zoro rose and made his way to the rear deck. He drained the sake bottle in his hand as he went and then sat down heavily and looked at the star-splattered sky. He was so happy, and yet… there was fear within him. Had they really gotten away clean? It wasn’t that he doubted their strength, but that he now knew the true strength of a Yonkou, and if Big Mom had those _Vinsmokes_ on her side….

Zoro let the thought trail off and breathed a heavy sigh. He was being silly. The whole crew was here. _Sanji_ was here. There was no use in worrying about things that had already happened. He’d hear from Nami and Chopper and Brook what went down, maybe even from the cook himself. He shook his head at his own foolishness and lifted his sake bottle to his lips before remembering it was empty.

Just then, the scent of tobacco filled the air and the man occupying his thoughts joined him on the rear deck.

“What are you doing back here?” he asked.

“Just needed a minute,” Zoro replied. “Have you been avoiding me?” he blurted.

Sanji laughed uncomfortably. “We’ve been kind of busy, haven’t we?”

The fact that he didn’t deny it stuck out to Zoro, but he said nothing, and a tense silence fell between them. This wasn’t at all how Zoro had wanted his reunion with the cook to go. He’d wanted to finally voice everything that had run through his head while they’d been apart, all the things he hadn’t had time to say, the things he had been embarrassed or afraid to say, the things that would let the cook know how much he mattered, not only to the crew, but to Zoro. He knew he couldn’t be as sickly-sweet or eloquent as the cook when he spouted poetry to women – didn’t really even want to be – but at the very least, he wanted to get his thoughts and feelings out of his head, out of his heart, out to where the cook could hear them.

But all that came out when he opened his mouth was, “So, you married?”

To his vast relief, Sanji laughed, and it sounded more natural this time. “No, I’m not…” he held up his left hand and wiggled his ring-free fingers. “But…”

But? One word, one tiny syllable, brought back the worry, rooting it in Zoro’s heart, and with every second the cook hesitated, hands shoved into his pockets, cigarette dangling from his lips, it grew.

“But I’d like to be,” he said, putting out his cigarette, and Zoro’s heart sank. A few short days – never mind how long they’d seemed – and he’d lost him. But Zoro would accept this, just as he accepted all the things he knew he could not change, and by now he had figured out that who one came to love was often one of those things. He had tried to fight his own love for the cook, tried to stomp it out, and had seen the cook try the same. Neither had prevailed (and they had been glad for it). So if this arranged bride, or whoever it was, had stolen the cook’s heart, Zoro knew there was nothing he could do to change it.

“I’d like to be,” the cook repeated, and Zoro was pulled out of his thoughts. It took him a moment to realize that Sanji had sunk to one knee in front of him. He pulled a tiny box of black or blue velvet – it was hard to tell in the moonlight – out of his pocket and opened it to reveal a simple silver ring. “Roronoa Zoro, will you marry me?”

For a moment, Zoro’s mouth worked wordlessly. Then, falling out of his seat and into Sanji’s arms, he rasped, “Of course I will!”

Sanji slipped the ring onto Zoro’s finger, and Zoro realized there were tears falling down both their cheeks. He felt more tongue-tied than ever, a thousand thoughts and emotions rushing through him at once. He knew he could never make sense of them now, not to himself, let alone Sanji, so he kissed him instead. He tried to put his feelings into that kiss, into the way he pulled Sanji’s body close. He didn’t know how well he succeeded, but it no longer seemed so urgent. They were together.

They had time.

**Author's Note:**

> *casually drops fanon Emotionless Zoro into the garbage*


End file.
